spark of charity, no feeling of manly regret at her sufferings entered
his bosom.

"Be charitable," she continued. "I have prayed night after night to
God to relieve my necessities; I have walked the town through and
through in the effort to procure work, but my prayers have been
unanswered, and my efforts have proven unavailing. At times the
thought of the maelstrom of woe into which I am plunged, has well nigh
driven me to madness. My brain has seemed on fire, and the shrieks of
the maniac would have been heard resounding through the walls of this
room, but my children would come before me, and the light of reason
would again return. But for their sake I should welcome death as a
precious boon. Life has but every charm for me. In the pale and
alternated woman before you, none could recognize a once happy wife.
Oh, sir!" she continued, with energy; "believe me when I tell you that
for my children's sake alone, I now appeal. Hear me, and look with
pity on a mother's pleadings. It is for them I plead. Were I alone, no
word of supplication would you hear. I should leave here, and in the
cold and turbid waters of Pearl river, find the rest I am denied on
earth."

"This is a very unaccountable thing to me," said Mr. Elder. "You make
an agreement to leave as soon as you fail to pay your rent, and now
that that hour has arrived, instead of conforming to your agreement, I
am beset with a long supplication. My good woman, this effort of yours
to induce me to provide a home for your family at my expense, cannot
be successful. You have no claim upon my charity, and those who have,
are sufficiently numerous already without my desiring to make any
addition. As I mentioned before, you must either find money to pay the
rent, or vacate the room."